Under the Mask
by Gomboc123
Summary: Marinette reads Alya's Ladynoir fanfiction and tries her best to keep calm. Meanwhile Adrien takes a liking to Nino's Ladynoir playlist.
I wrote a Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction! This entire thing is based off of a great conversation I had with zeldamaniac44 on tumblr. Alya would totally be a conspiracy theorist and fanfic author.

I hope you enjoy! And any feedback would be much appreciated so I can improve!

* * *

"And _that_ ," Alya paused for dramatic effect, "Is why there's a very good chance that Gabriel Agreste is actually Hawkmoth," the girl crossed her arms and looked triumphant, leaving Marinette sitting in confusion.

"That's ridiculous. I'm pretty sure one of the akumatized villains personally targeted Gabriel Agreste," Marinette did not want to believe this theory. Hawkmoth couldn't be _Gabriel Agreste_ , world famous fashion designer. The supervillain she fought all the time couldn't be Adrien's father.

"As I mentioned earlier, Mari, that's the point," Alya pulled her friend in close, "He makes people angry enough to akumatize them so he has more evil minions to do his bidding," Alya rolled her eyes as though it were obvious. To her credit, the girl _had_ stacked up a substantial amount of evidence, from voice recordings to a detailed timeline of the events in Gabriel's life which would lead to him turning evil. (After his wife died in a tragic accident and he was left to be a single parent. Events that coincided suspiciously well with Hawkmoth's first appearance.) Alya had also drawn up multiple comparisons between Akumatized villains' costumes and Gabriel's latest designs. Alya was becoming a monster.

"Yeah, but didn't Ladybug and Chat Noir have to save him while Jackady was still at large?" Marinette refused to believe Alya's theories. She had _seen_ Gabriel Agreste in his house while Jackady was attacking. There was no way.

But then again… It wasn't like she had seen Gabriel Agreste and Hawkmoth in the same room together…

"No!" Marinette mentally scolded herself as she heard Tikki's faint giggling from inside her purse.

Marinette usually loved listening to Alya and all of the theories she came up with and posted on the Ladyblog. Alya spent a generous chunk of her time every day just researching and developing theories and ways to find the true identity of Hawkmoth, Ladybug, and Chat Noir. Marinette loved hearing everything, especially the ones about Hawkmoth- that way, Ladybug could do her own investigating at night. But his latest "proof of Hawkmoth's identity" was just becoming ridiculous.

" _Come ooooon_ Marinette," Alya placed her arm around her best friend's shoulders, "I'm going to find everything out, even if nobody else wants to. And besides, there's no proof against Gabriel being Hawkmoth."

Marinette grumbled, but soon found herself smiling as Alya poked her arm. Alya giggled, and soon Marinette found herself laughing, "Okay, I still think it is _literally anyone else in Paris_ , but I applaud your effort on trying to solve this mystery."

"Thank you Marinette," Alys looked proud, "Hmmmmmmm… If Hawkmoth could be "literally anyone" who's to say _you're_ not Hawkmoth?"

Marinette shoved Alya off, still laughing, "I'm not Hawkmoth," If only Alya knew about Ladybug… "Do you do anything other than coming up with conspiracy theories, or is that all you're good for?"

In mock insult, Alya gasped and put her hand on her chest, "I'm ashamed you would think such a thing, Marinette," she smiled, "I just finished writing a new chapter of my fanfic, 'Under the Mask,"

Marinette took a moment to process what Alya said, and blinked twice as if it would help her understand better, "Wait, what?" Alya wrote a _fanfiction_ about her?

"Have you seriously never heard of "Under the Mask'?! I thought I posted something about it on the Ladyblog…" Alya looked away, trying to remember if she had, in fact, blogged about it.

"Well, I haven't seen it, I guess," Marinette shrugged, and her friend

"Well we need to fix that then!" Alya replied all too quickly and all too loudly, causing the people around the two girls to turn and stare. Alya furiously typed something into her phone and basically hurled it at Marinette, "Read it! Oh, and after you're done, I need to show you the playlist Nino made for it!"

"Okay, Alya," Marinette gave a small chuckle. She looked down at the phone, and began reading.

 _Under the Mask: Chapter One_

Alya looked on expectantly as Marinette took in her words.

Marinette actually thought the story was pretty good. Alya had hit spot on the fact that she- or rather, Alya's OC, Alixandra- was reluctant to become a hero, not wanting adequate enough after being blessed by magic earrings by an ancient spirit (some parts of the story were not quite as accurate). Alixandra also had a Tikki-like figure (Aleris, a literal talking ladybug) telling her how to use her new powers.

Marinette was actually very intrigued by the fanfiction. It was very interesting to see how people interpreted Ladybug, and how they thought everything had worked. Alya's writing was great, and Marinette found herself actually becoming invested in the character of Alixandra. Invested, that is, until Chat Noir showed up…

" _A boy in a black leather suit sauntered toward her, and Alixandra felt her heart leap. His devilish green eyes and tight leather suit made her mouth water, and she stopped to look at him before she finally asked him who he was. 'Chat Noir' he said, 'I'm here to help.'"_

At that point, Marinette began blushing profusely as she realized, _oh god, this is a romance fanfiction between Chat Noir and I._

Quickly regaining her composure, Marinette mentally debated whether or not to keep on reading. She should have guessed this, based on how much Alya talked about the "cute relationship" between Chat Noir and her. Marinette knew that people shipped the two of them, but it had never been so… in her face.

But she had to read it to tell Alya how it was. Somehow, Marinette would need to get through this without blushing any more or freaking out. So she put on her best poker face and kept scrolling. She could beat up supervillains on a weekly basis; she could handle a Ladynoir fanfiction.

Alixandra met Chat, and the two of them went off to fight Stone Heart. That part wasn't so bad. Chat Noir flirted, which was normal, although there were considerably less cat puns. Other than that, and Alixandra's admiration of Chat's " _handsome grin and sweet golden hair that drove her wild_ ", the romance wasn't bad enough to make Marinette blush.

Marinette smiled at Alya throughout, giving her a reassuring thumbs up every time she turned to the next chapter. Everyone was mostly in character, which was good, but there was an occasional slip up which drove Marinette wild. Alixandra began flirting back with Chat, and sometimes, he said something just _off_ sounding. All of a sudden, Marinette couldn't help but blurting out.

"Chat Noir wouldn't say that." Chat Noir called her "My Lady" or "Bugaboo", not "Darling", and definitely not "Babe".

"How would you know?" Alya raised a brow

"Kn-know what? I didn't say anything. I have no idea what you're talking about," Crap. She couldn't fully explain this to Alya without giving up her secret identity.

"Whatever you say, Mari…" Alya didn't want to pry too much, instead motioning for Marinette to keep reading. Well, Marinette had failed at her self-imposed challenge not to blush.

Finally, the last posted chapter had been reached. Marinette had been silent, and was beginning the scene in which Alixandra and Chat were kissing on top of the Eiffel tower. Alixandra leaned in close to Chat, and,

" _His cologne permeated the air around, making the whole scene ten times sweeter. Chat Noir seemed to have that effect on everything. He was so strong, and handsome, and all Alixandra wanted to do was lean in close and kiss his lips. They had just saved the city once more, and the superhero duo deserved a little comfort in their lives. So Alixandra turned to face him, and took in his face. Even with the black mask obscuring his visage, he was the most attractive man she had ever seen. She stared at him, looking into his eyes. The green orbs were stunning- it was like gazing into a forest-"_

"Chat Noir's eyes aren't like a forest. They're more lime green, or chartreuse," Marinette blurted again.

"Mari, why would you know that?" Marinette cursed in her mind; something she didn't usually do. Alya was going to be too suspicious of her and ask questions. How could Marinette possibly explain everything?

"Um… It's nothing… Ignore it," She desperately glanced around, as if something in the room could save her. Marinette's eye caught a glimpse of the clock, "Oh wow, look at the time! I um, have to um, be somewhere. Okay, Alya, bye."

Marinette panicked and tossed Alya's phone back. Alya said something, but Marinette was too busy to hear as she frantically shoved everything into her backpack and began sprinting away.

"I'LL FINISH YOUR FANFICTION LATER, ALYA!"

* * *

Poor Alya sat on the bench, wondering what made Marinette run away so soon, but then realized that she was going to be late meeting with Nino if she didn't leave soon. Marinette was acting weird, but Marinette _always_ acted kind of weird. It wasn't a bad thing, it just made her Marinette. Maybe Alya's description of Chat Noir reminded her too much of Adrien, and Marinette was flustered because of her crush. The two boys _did_ have lots of similarities. Maybe Adrien was Chat Noir…

Alya knew what her newest blog post was going to be as she headed toward home.

* * *

"Nino, will you stop gushing about your girlfriend?" Adrien rolled his eyes as his friend stared into the distance dreamily.

"I will never. Alya is fantastic," Ever since Nino and Alya had gone on their first date, the girl was the only thing on Nino's mind.

"Okay, but this science project is about magnets, not Alya," Adrien usually didn't mind the gushing too much- he gushed about Ladybug plenty, but they needed to focus on schoolwork.

"Did you know that I even helped her put together a new playlist the other day," Great, now Nino was going to gush about Alya and music, his two new favorite things in the world.

"That's great, but we really need to work now-"

"It's inspired by Ladybug and Chat Noir," Adrien paused, but looked back up at his friend. A playlist about him and Ladybug…

Apparently Adrien's lack of protesting against the playlist meant "Nino, put your headphones on my head and begin playing loud music", because Adrien's ears were soon filled by the sound of rock music.

Adrien immediately recognized the sound of Muse, and it only took him a couple seconds before he realized the song that was playing was "Resistance".

"This playlist is about Ladybug and Chat Noir, Alya's OTP. And even I think they are a cute couple," _ohmygod. This is going to be all love songs,_ was all Adrien could think.

Adrien shifted uncomfortably as he thought deeper about the situation. He might start blushing or lose his cool if he kept listening. He couldn't believe that people actually thought ladybug and him would make a cute couple. It made Adrien feel… oddly hopeful. Who knows what other songs Nino and Alya put on the playlist? Adrien needed to listen to the rest of it, but he wanted to do so somewhere he could be alone. Otherwise, Adrien thought he might begin staring off into space, deep in his thoughts about Ladybug.

But he couldn't just run away from his best friend; that would be rude. How would he get through with his integrity?

"So what do you think so far?" Nino inquired after Adrien had reached the third song, some pop piece he had never heard before, but kept repeating, " _You are my other half. My partner in crime. My true soulmate. My ray of sunshine._ "

"Yeah Nino, that's awesome," Adrien tried his best to hide his nervousness.

Thinking about Ladybug being his soulmate gave him jitters in his stomach that he didn't quite understand. The fact that people thought _he_ was worthy of someone as amazing as _her_ was astounding. Adrien wasn't sure how much longer he could keep his poker face in front of Nino

"I think it's fantastic. Alya knows some of the best songs," Nino stared away dreamily, and his eyes suddenly caught a bus driving by, "Oh crap, Adrien! I'm supposed to be meeting Alya at the park!"

Adrien thanked whatever higher power would listen as Nino shoved his things in his bag and yelled, "I'm sending you the playlist once I get on a bus! Tell me what you think tomorrow!"

Phone in hand, Adrien expectantly awaited the list. The five minutes he had to endure before hearing his phone notification were agony.

Getting on his own bus home, Adrien plugged his headphones in as Plagg rolled his eyes.

* * *

Nathalie heard the slamming of a door, signalling Adrien's arrival back home at the Agreste manor. She stepped out of the kitchen to meet him, but the boy was too consumed in listening to whatever music his phone was playing to notice her.

 _Oh well,_ she figured, and would wait five minutes before retrieving him for dinner. That would give him plenty of time to finish his song.

Nathalie waited, and watched the news. Those superheroes, Ladybug and Chat Noir, were certainly starting to become popular. All of the major news networks, and even the gossip shows just played endless segments about the newest saviors of Paris.

It was almost like twenty years ago, when two different superheroes had saved the city once. She remembered one of them, Papillion (Nathalie used to have a massive crush on him), but for the life of her, couldn't remember his partner's name.

Nathalie chuckled, remembering her teenage years. While on the topic of teenagers, Nathalie got up to check on Adrien.

She opened the door to his room, and found the young Mr. Agreste still with his headphones in, staring out of his large window. The reflection from the glass showed a dream-like look in his eyes as Adrien clutched his phone. Nathalie knew that look in his eye- Adrien had a crush on someone. And he was probably engrossed in sappy love songs and imagining himself in scenarios with some girl.

Briefly considering disturbing him, Nathalie decided that Adrien would come down to dinner in his own time. Being a love-struck teenager had happened to her too, and Adrien deserved to be able to experience that normal part of life.

Closing the door, Nathalie smiled almost as wide as Adrien.


End file.
